The present invention generally relates to computer systems and in particular to enabling a sort function to sort records based on content in a free text field.
Current database and spreadsheet applications allow users to sort records on any column. In many cases, the column that is sorted helps a user view new patterns in the data. However, for certain columns, such as free text fields (especially free text fields populated without any structure, like email message subject fields), current sorting methods will most likely not show off any useful patterns. Current sorting methods sort records by date, sender, or subject. While sorting by date or sender is useful, current methods of sorting by subject (i.e., free text field) in a normal database, such as an email database, are not as useful.